On September 2, 2026, Ethan Salas walked into Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati as the San Diego Padres‘ starting catcher at just 20 years and 93 days old — and quietly rewrote history. His debut made him the youngest Venezuelan catcher to reach the majors since Iván ‘Pudge’ Rodríguez did it in 1991, and it pushed Venezuela to a number no country had ever reached at that position: 23 catchers in a single MLB season.
The debut: 0-for-4, two strikeouts, and a place in the record books
The box score wasn’t pretty. Salas went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as the Padres dropped a 7-3 decision to the Reds. But the result of that game was beside the point. What mattered was what the date represented: Salas became the 523rd Venezuelan to appear in the major leagues, and the youngest Venezuelan catcher ever to debut — surpassing the mark Francisco Álvarez had held since 2023.
Only 11 Venezuelans in baseball history reached the majors at a younger age. None of them were catchers.
The Padres called him up during the September roster expansion as the team was pushing for a Wild Card spot. He earned the call. In 96 games split between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso, Salas posted a .296/.374/.448 slash line with 10 home runs, 19 doubles, and 61 RBI — good for a wRC+ of 115, meaning he was 15% better than the average hitter at those levels. He didn’t get handed anything.
The number behind the number: 23, and nothing like it in MLB history
Before Salas made his debut, journalist Fernando Álvarez had already documented 22 Venezuelan catchers with at least one game played in the 2026 season. Salas made it 23 — a figure with no historical equivalent for any country at that position.
To put it in perspective:
- On Opening Day 2026, Venezuela already had 8 starting catchers in the lineup across the league: Salvador Pérez, William Contreras, Pedro Pagés, Francisco Álvarez, Gabriel Moreno, Keibert Ruiz, Freddy Fermín, and Carlos Narváez — tying the record set in 2024.
- On at least one night in May, 11 Venezuelan catchers started on the same evening, accounting for 60% of all starting catchers across a 15-game slate.
- During 2026 spring training, 35 of the 141 Venezuelans in camp were catchers — 25% of the entire Venezuelan contingent. Fourteen of them were on 40-man rosters.
Venezuela has long been synonymous with shortstops. The catcher position was traditionally owned by Dominican, American, and Puerto Rican players. That map has been shifting for years. In 2026, it was officially redrawn.
Salas: the $5.6 million bet that’s starting to pay off
The story didn’t start on September 2. The Padres signed Salas on January 15, 2023, when he was just 16 years old, for a $5.6 million bonus — nearly their entire international bonus pool that year ($5,825,500). He was MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 international prospect for 2023. San Diego went all-in on a teenager who hadn’t faced a single professional pitch.
Born in Kissimmee, Florida, Salas grew up in Venezuela — and Venezuela claims him as one of its own. The road wasn’t straight: a lower-back stress reaction in 2025 limited him to just 10 games. He bounced back strong in 2026, and in September the Padres decided it was time.
The Pudge comparison is one of age, not career. Nobody is putting a debutant in the same sentence as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history in any serious way. But the reference exists, and it says something about the kind of talent San Diego believes it has on its hands.
Venezuela now has 23 catchers on the books for the 2026 season. The all-time record for Venezuelan players debuting in a single campaign is 25, set in 2022. The 2026 season isn’t over yet.
